Hooded Justice
Hooded Justice, whose real identity is never revealed, was the first ever masked adventurer and the lead influence for Nite Owl and the rest of the early costumed heroes. He wears a hood and a noose, with the body of a wrestler, and is believed by the press to be in a relationship with fellow crime fighter Silk Spectre I. In reality, he was a sadomasochistic homosexual who was involved in a relationship with Captain Metropolis (Nelson Gardner). He and Dollar Bill are the only two costumed vigilantes whose real names or identities are never revealed. He is the only masked vigilante whose final fate is never fully resolved. Appearance On multiple occasions Hooded Justice was described with the physique of a wrestler and has been noted as one the biggest men most had ever seen. Both tall and made up of erupting muscles, there is no question why he was such a worthy candidate for his title. In one view it can be seen through the eye holes of his hood the color of his blazing ember eyes, filled with fury and shock. His costume was the least gaudy of the Minutemen, even with his bright red cape, his attire was simple and surprisingly symbolical. Along with his cape, which fell to his knees and opened upward from his neck, circling his face except for the front, was his similarly colored spandex trousers. The rest of his body was covered in the same material with a dark purple or possibly black color. Most notable and symbolic of all his attire, besides perhaps the simple hood over his head, is the noose wrapped around his neck, likely a symbol for punishment of villains and law-breakers. He also wears the same rope around his waist, wrists and ankles. Biography Most information about Hooded Justice is revealed in Hollis Mason's autobiography Under the Hood, specifically in chapters II and V. Becoming Hooded Justice In the autumn of 1938, there was an attempted assault and robbery in Queens, where a man and his girlfriends were walking home from the theater. They were attacked by a gang of three men with guns who stole all their valuables and physically abused the man, then threatening to assault his girlfriend. They were interrupted, however, by a masked figure who had disarmed them and then beat them with such severity that they were hospitalized, and one had even lost the use of both of his legs due to a spinal injury. The witnesses recounted the night but their comments were confused and contradictory. A week after this incident, on October 14, there was a supermarket stick-up that was prevented by a man who had crashed in through the window. He attacked the man who was responsible, likely the group's leader, with such intensity and savagery that those of them who were not disabled had dropped their guns and surrendered. This witness recounting was much more thorough than the first, and they described him as a tall man who was built like a wrestler and wore a black hood and cape with a noose around his neck. The article that detailed this incident was headlined "Hooded Justice", which gave him the name he'd go by many years to come. The Minutemen In the autumn of 1939 there was an advertisement in the Gazette for all other masked adventurers to step forward that was submitted by Nelson Gardner with the help of Laurence Schexnayder. Like the rest, Hooded Justice joined the group and fought crime as a team. At the Minutemen Christmas Party that year, it was noted that he and Sally Jupiter had started dating, 'sort of', but Hollis Mason speculates that even though she attached herself swiftly to him, he never seemed very interested in her. In 1940, after the group's photo had been taken, Sally Jupiter stayed in the room to change, and the Comedian attempted to sexually assault her. Hooded Justice walked into the room realizing how long she was taking and caught Blake on the ground over her with his pants down, also she appeared to be almost unconscious. After brutally attacking him, he coughed up blood and said, "This is what you like, huh? This is what gets you hot..." He replied, "Get out," and told Sally to put some clothes on. During the Senate Subcommittee hearings of the House UnAmerican Activities Committee some time around 1956, each member was requested to reveal their identities to one member, and even though his identity would not be released to the public, Hooded Justice refused to be exposed on the grounds that he was not prepared to reveal his true identity to anyone. Due to America's strong campaign, they put a great deal of pressure on the vigilante, and instead of revealing his identity, he decided to simply retire, and vanished. Personality Linking Hooded Justice further to the circus strongman Rolf Muller, Hollis Mason mentioned that while Hooded Justice was part of the Minutemen, he had gone on record for expressing approval for Hitler's actions during the Third Reich. Considering Muller's family is from East Germany, this would only be further proof of their secrets. Seeing Muller as a Nazi would conclude that he is an authoritarian, but is hypocritical toward himself due to Hitler's eradication of homosexuals from Germany also. In a letter from Sally Jupiter's scrapbook, Laurence Schexnayder discusses the dilemma between "Nelly" (Nelson Gardner) and "H.J." (Hooded Justice) and how Nelly was upset over another tiff with H.J. He describes their actions in public as those of an old married couple and how they are getting more difficult to cover for. Nelly claims that when he calls, H.J. is 'out with boys' with a lot of 'rough stuff' going on. Identity Although his identity was never confirmed, there was speculation in an article in The New Frontiersman, a year after Hooded Justice disappeared, that mentioned the absence of a circus strongman named Rolf Müller who quit his job at approximately the same time as Hooded Justice had vanished. Only three months later his body had washed up on the coast of Boston that was shot through the head and badly decomposed. This man, possibly Hooded Justice, and his family were East German and had been on the run from the Communist witch hunts, thus it was believed that he had been executed by his own Red superiors. A lot of his actions while Hooded Justice imply that he was a Nazi supporter and because of his abnormally immense size easily misinterpreted as the shape of a wrestler, it is very likely that Rolf Muller and Hooded Justice are the same man. Category:Minutemen Category:Characters